What’s Behind This ‘Glutemaxxing’ Or “Bootymaxxing” Trend

54 Percent Of GenZers Would Give Up Iced Coffee For Perfect Glutes

The Planet Fitness and Wired Research survey was of 1,006 nationally representative Americans 18 years of age and older. It was conducted from May 11 through May 14 via email invitations. Beyond the whole butt over face thing, the survey also showed that 54 percent of GenZers would even give up iced coffee for perfect glutes, 70 percent feel more confident when they think their butt looks good and 64 percent believe that summer makes them more aware of their butt. You could say that a lot of GenZers have behinds on their mind, no ifs, ands or butts about it.

Glutemaxxing Is About These Three Gluteal Muscles

So this “maxxing’ trend is similar to other ”maxxing” trends on TikTok, Instagram and other such social media platforms that I’ve covered in Forbes. The maxxing is short for maximizing. And in this case, the thing that people are trying to maximize are their glutes, you know the muscules behind, well, one’s behind. Each half of your butt has the following three main gluteal muscles:

• Gluteus Maximus: The name may sound like some kind of ancient Roman emperor, which is fitting because this is the largest of the three. When your hips don’t lie, the gluteus maximus is doing most of the talking—comprising the majority of your buttock’s shape and driving any movement where you extend your hips and push one of your legs backwards. Building up the maximus can give you more of a butt “shelf” and more, well, butt.
• Gluteus Medius: This muscle is a bit out there—meaning wrapped around the outer part of your hip. This muscle allows you to abduct your hip—which is moving your leg away from the center of your body—and keeps your hip stabilized while you do things like stand, especially when it’s standing on just one leg. Building up the medius can make the sides of your hips more round.
• Gluteus Minimus: Consider this a “Mini Me” for the gluteus medius—lying right under the gluteus medius and helping the medius rotate your thigh and keep your hip stable. Most of the glutemaxxing focuses on the maximus and medius since the minimus is the smallest and deepest of the three muscles.

Think of your glutes as the Doom Patrol of the lower half of your body. Stronger and more active glutes can support and take pressure off you spine, hop joints, knees and even ankles. So, even though it’s common to use the phrase “save your butt,” don’t forget how your butt can save you.

Glutemaxxing Is The Opposite Of ‘Dead Butt Syndrome’

Speaking of forget, the whole glutemaxxing trend can be helpful in reminding you to get off your butt and, well, on your butt to use your glutes. After all, your glutes can be the Hagrids or Ron Weasleys from Harry Potter of your body—often overlooked and under-appreciated. In fact, it’s common to have what’s been called “gluteal amnesia,” which I described in Forbes in 2024. Otherwise known as “Dead Butt Syndrome” because why not use the word “butt” whenever you can, this is when lack of use leads to the weakening, atrophy and general deconditioning of your glutes to the point where they basically forget to do what they are supposed to do.

And sitting on your butt all day doesn’t work these glutes. Typically, applying pressure alone is not going to make any body part get stronger or bigger—well, at least it’s not going work with most body parts. Instead, you have to actively and regularly use your glutes.

When your butt is kind of dead, you may end up with all kinds of symptoms from the other parts of your lower body working harder. This can include back, hip, knee, leg, ankle or foot pain. Sometimes nagging and mysterious injuries can be the result of weak glutes.

What Exercises Can Help With Glutemaxxing

Therefore, it is a good idea to include glute-targeting exercises in your physical activity routine. You can commonly see people doing such exercises like hip thrusters, glute bridges, lunges, squats and Romanian deadlifts in gyms and fitness classes. Doing hip thrusts or glute bridges in other settings like the office, though, is not quite as common and may give others the wrong impression, unless you warn them first.

Since no single glute exercise will use all of your glutes in all ways, it’s good to regularly incorporate a combination of glute exercises. For example, Kendal Fitzgerald, the lead fitness instructor at Planet Fitness West Chester, Ohio, offered the following glute workout routine that’s largely on the ball, so to speak:

• Medicine Ball Squat (40 sec, 2 sets): This is where you do squats, standing with your feet shoulder-width apart and then slowly bending your knees and lowering your hips as if sitting in a chair that’s not really there. Except you are holding a medicine ball that’s typically in the range of five to 20 pounds in weight while doing the squats. If you don’t have balls, you can replace the medicine ball with a heavier dumbbell.
• Medicine Ball Alternating Lunge (40 sec, 2 sets): These are lunges while holding, you guessed it, a medicine ball. Lunges involve stepping either forward or backward with one leg while lowering your hips until both knees form 90-degree angles. If you currently have limited balance or stability, you may want to hold off on this exercise.
• Medicine Ball Alternating Split Jumps (40 sec, 2 sets): This can be a good cardiovascular workout but can be a bit hazardous if you have limited coordination or are wearing ridiculously tight pants.
• Medicine Ball Press Jacks (40 sec, 2 sets): Here Jacks stand for jumping jacks and not Jack Nicholson. This can be quite intense and burn calories but does put stress on your joints.if not performed correctly.
• Kettlebell Alternating Reverse Lunge (40 sec, 2 sets): Instead of a medicine ball, these use a kettlebell. The “reverse” means that you step backwards rather than forwards, which can be more challenging.
• Kettlebell Sumo Squat (40 sec, 2 sets): This is like a squat but with a much wider stance, kind of like the way a Sumo wrestler will squat. You don’t have wear the same loincloth that Sumo wrestlers do, though.
• Kettlebell Deadlift (40 sec, 2 sets): This is a deadlift while holding a kettlebell. A deadlift is where your hold a weight in front of your thighs and then hinge forward at the hips while keeping your back flat and legs mostly straight with slight bends of your knees. Then use your glutes to slowly pull the weight and your top half back up to the starting position.

The Risks Of Glutemaxxing

As I’ve indicated before, the main risk of any of these “maxxing” trends that you see on social media is overdoing it. Doing glute exercises excessively and especially improperly can lead to injury. As is the case with any muscle, you have to intersperse work-outs with rest time for the glute muscles to recover, heal and, in turn, get stronger.

You also don’t want to work on your glutes without working on other parts of your body at the same time. Sire Mix-A-Lot may like big butts. But disproportionately large and strong butts can lead to body imbalances that can lead to injury.

Finally, there are the psychological risks. Obsessing over any single body part can lead to body dysmorphia—where you don’t have a realistic view of what your body really looks like. This can contribute to eating disorders and all sorts of other unhealthy behaviors such as trying to consume too much protein in order to build more muscle.

Moreover, you may forget that everyone is built differently and that your goals should match your unique situation and body type such as your pelvic bone dimensions. Not everyone is designed to have a Kim Kardashian, Lil Nas X or whatever butt that you may be longing to have. So getting a celebrity butt may not be all that it’s cracked up to be.

The bottom line is that this glutemaxxing trend is not like “ballmaxxing” or “tanmaxxing,” where people are pushing things that you shouldn’t really do. Glutemaxxing can be a good thing if it brings more attention to your gluteal muscles and the good work that they do. You just don’t want to look back in hindsight and realize that you overdid it.